Category Archives: General

Wow, I just realized that 6 weeks has gone by since I last posted…it seems like just yesterday! I’ve been thinking over the course of the last couple of weeks, how fast 2017 flew by…it seems like just yesterday I was doing my post for First Book of 2017 and now we are into 2018.

I honestly wasn’t sure what my first book of the year was going to be up until about 11pm on New Years Eve. Over the last couple of weeks, I have been earning some extra money driving for Lyft (similar to Uber, but seems slightly less popular). Anyways, in true enterprising fashion, I headed out on New Years Eve, the plan was to drive a couple of hours, head home take a nap and then head out around midnight for some more fun. How wrong I was – one of my early rides (around 8pm) took me into DC and I basically stayed there all night. With the exception of maybe 30min down time right before and after the ball dropped – I was on the go all night.

Anyways, while I was waiting for one of my passengers to show up, I was flipping through my various reading challenge lists and trying to figure out how I wanted to start off the new year! Did I go with a favorite author (like Kimberly Kincaide) or a favorite genre (well, romance duh!) or did I go with something different…ultimately I decided to go with something different but fit at least 3 reading challenges that I am doing in various groups on Goodreads…so without further ado…my first book of the year is…

Also, In lieu of my oh-so-fantastic photography skills…on the ipod is my first full audiobook of the year (I have one in progress with about an hour left). The first audiobooks is the second book in Douglas Adams Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy series – The Restaurant at the End of the Universe

So I’m hanging out on my couch right now, watching the first decent potential snowfall of the year (yes, I know its march..) and wondering if I’ll be lucky enough to have a snow day tomorrow…my snow day pj’s are on, I have a stack of books from the library waiting to be read…now all I need is for a Code Red to be called (government speak for offices being closed…)

Everyone needs to take this as their queue to commence doing a snow dance – I know I’d be forever grateful!

What is First Book of the year?
The First Book is a book that maybe you have been wanting to read for a while but have not had time for, a coveted book, an old favorite re-read – whatever you want. The point is that this is the book that will kick off the year for you. What will it be?

My First Book of 2017
Last year it took my ages to try and figure out what my first book of 2016 was going to be (I think that I changed my mind 4 or 5 times), but this year when I was looking at my various books to read, it was a no brainer…so drum roll please…my first book of 2017 is going to be Crossing Hearts written by the fabulous Kimberly Kincaid! If you took a look at the book information for Crossing Hearts, you’ll notice that the official release date isn’t until early February – but I luckily won an ARC of it in a giveaway on Kimberly’s facebook page (there was some serious happy dancing when she tagged me in the post as the winner announcement).

Crossing Hearts Description:
Hunter Cross has no regrets. Having left his football prospects behind the day he graduated high school, he’s happy to carry out his legacy on his family’s farm in the foothills of the Shenandoah. But when a shoulder injury puts him face-to-face with the high school sweetheart who abandoned town—and him—twelve years ago, Hunter’s simple life gets a lot more complicated.

Emerson Montgomery has secrets. Refusing to divulge why she left her job as a hotshot physical therapist for a pro football team, she struggles to readjust to life in the hometown she left behind. The more time she spends with Hunter, the more Emerson finds herself wanting to trust him with the diagnosis of MS that has turned her world upside down.

But revealing secrets comes with a price. Can Hunter and Emerson rekindle their past love? Or will the realities of the present—and the trust that goes with them—burn that bridge for good?<

It seems like just yesterday when I signed up to compete in Ironman Louisville, to be held this Sunday in Kentucky (in actuality its been just under a year…but time seriously fly when you are having fun…err, I mean training). And if swimming 2.4 miles, cycling 112 and running 26.2 (yes, a marathon) isn’t enough – I’m driving to and from Louisville from Maryland (which is about 11hours…traffic dependant)…

So what better way to kick off a 4 day roadtrip with a “What am I listening to on this roadtrip?” post.

Notionally, if traffic works in my favor and there are no delays (aside from stopping for required coffee and snackage)…the trip should take me about 10 hours – but there is one thing I have learnt in my roadtrips over the years – always add at least 2 additional hours for detours/getting lost (which is pretty frequent in my world) and general shenanigans…anyways – I’m prepping with over 20 hours of audiobooks to listen to, in addition to having my kindle fully charged for sitdown food stops (I love finding those random diners while traveling).

My listening pile for the trip looks something like this:

I’m about 2/3 of the way done with A Beautiful Blue Death by Charles Finch…I have a few thoughts on the who done it, so it will be interesting to see when the big reveal happens. The Keeper of Lost Causes by Jussi Adler-Olsen has been loitering on my to-be-listened pile for a while and its a group read for an ongoing challenge that i’m doing – so perfect timing to get it off the pile. When I finish those up, I’m planning to go back to Chicago in the mid-1980’s with PI V.I. Warshawski in Sara Praetsky’s Bitter Medicine. And finally, if I finish the previous 3 mentioned (which would mean that I likely hit some serious traffic somewhere, I have Lothaire by Kresley Cole and narrated by one of my favorites Robert Petkoff qued up.

So what do you guys think? What are your favorite roadtrip books? (if you have any)

Brotherhood, Honor, Leadership, Sacrifice, Service, Loyalty, Duty, and Ut Prosim – 8 values, inscribed on 8 pylons of the War Memorial at Virginia Tech. Early on during New Cadet Week, all the freshmen are taken to the Pylons by their Cadre, and taught about the importance of the memorial. To this day, I remember listening to C/FSG Fensler telling us about the men who’s names were inscribed on them, men who gave their lives in service to their country.

Every memorial day, I try to take time to sit down and think about those men and women who have given their lives in service of our country. To many people they are just names, very rarely is there a face to a name. We see rows upon rows of headstones at cemeteries like Arlington, each one marking the burial place of someone’s loved one – fathers, mothers, sons and daughters, brothers and sisters. It wasn’t until i was a sophomore at Virginia Tech when I got to put a face to a name and I still remember that to this day. I remember the first time, the Virginia Tech Corps of Cadets found out that one of their own had been killed in Iraq, Jeff Kaylor. i hadn’t known Jeff, he’d graduated the year before I joined the Corps, but it was clear how much everyone loved and respected him.

Tim Price, also a member of the Class of 2001, had just returned to Virginia Tech not long before his death to participate in the Warfighter’s Panel, hosted by the Corps of Cadets. This was one of the first of its kind and provided alumni an opportunity to come back to their alma mater and talk about their experiences in the military. I still remember the day we were told that Tim had been killed, for me that was really the first time the consequences of War hit home for me. Since then, more names have been added to the Pylons, both people I knew and didn’t know – but they all had that one thing in common, service before self. Ut Prosim, that I may serve, the motto of Virginia Tech Corp of Cadets.

So this day, Memorial day 2016, take a few minutes and just think about what this day is about and honor those who have given their lives in service of others.

In case you have had your head buried in the sand (or maybe snow), its been hard to miss the predictions of the massive snow storm that is hitting the east coast this weekend (for me, it started about 2 hours ago). Over the past few years it seems to have become a tradition to name the storm with some witty moniker. In 2010 (when I moved to the DC area) it was #snowmageddon and in 2012/2013, it was #snowpocalyse. so the big question on many minds (or at least mine) for the last week has been, what are we going to call this storm? I mean, the official name is “Winter Storm Jonas”, although that makes me think of the Jonas brothers and i’m not a huge fan of them. The DC Capital Weather Gang had a nomination and poll on their website, the winner wasn’t a witty name, but the runner up was #snowzilla. So this picture seems appropriate…

Another name that I saw pop up in my facebook feed was #snowtoriousBIG – now, i’m not really a rap fan, but i chucked at this one (named after the Notorious BIG who was murdered in 1997). Whatever name we go with, it will be interesting to see how this storm turns out – the last weather chart I saw (on my way home today), looked like Else had just tried to freeze the entirety of Virginia.

I don’t know about you guys, but i’m going to go and snuggle on the couch with the dogs (in between letting them out to play in the snow (my white shepherd has a serious snow addiction, to go with his frisbee addiction). Lots of reading ahead of me this weekend (hopefully).